Bioremediation Potentials of Poultry Manure in Crude Oil Polluted Soil

Today, petroleum-based products are the major sources of energy for daily life and for the industries. This study was conducted to investigate the bioremediation potentials of poultry manure in crude oil polluted soil, as well as its effects on microbiological composition of the soil. Top soil (0-15 cm depth) samples were collected from Prince Abubakar Audu University Teaching and Research Farm, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria. One kilogram of soil was measured into nine clean dry containers of three litres respectively. Exactly ten percent (10%) spiking of crude oil was adopted to achieve severe contamination. The poultry manure was homogenized with the soil samples atthe rate of 0, 50 and 100 g kg-1 soil in triplicates. A Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was adopted in the experiment. At 0 and 40 days, soil samples were collected from each container for Total Hydrocarbon Degrading Bacteria (THDB) and Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) determination using standard methods. Collected data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics to draw meaningful insights. The TPH (mgkg-1) of the soil before poultry manure application was 83.97. After the amendments at 0, 50 and 100 g kg-1, this value reduced to 55.12±1.0, 35.8 ±2.0 and 27.64±2.0, respectively after 40 days. A biodegradation efficiency of 67.08% was recorded after 10days in soil amended with 100 g kg-1 of poultry manure. Application of 100 g of poultry manurekg-1 soil was more effective in the remediation of crude oil polluted soil. Results demonstrated that poultry manure could be used to enhance activities of the microbial hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria duringbioremediation of crude oil polluted soil.